Progress Over Perfection
“Prioritize Progress over Perfection – Ready, Fire, Aim is a better strategy than Ready, Aim, Aim”.
Whether it is something new in your current career or you are looking to break ground into a new field, we all have small insecurities that we compensate for in different ways. For many of us, one common coping mechanism for insecurity is seeking perfection.
Perfection should always be a goal, but it is a hindrance to action when it becomes conflated with the core goal – to make progress. When we wait until everything is aligned perfectly before taking action, perfection becomes just another means of procrastination. In this sense perfection becomes a self-limiting behavior that prevents us from ultimately achieving our goals.
So if your quest for perfection is slowing you down how you might begin jumpstarting your efforts? Start with these questions:
- At the core what is important to what I am trying to do and what is essential to achieve it?
- What actions can I take without all of the details being perfectly lined up?
- What can I do to motivate myself to take action to stay focused?
- Find or create self-coaching phrase(s) to use whenever you find yourself off target:
- Remember you don’t need to go from point A to point Z, only from point A to point B.
We all want our best effort to be on display especially we know others are forming an impression of us. While there are always structural and circumstantial barriers that inhibit progress toward our goals, we have to be open to recognizing when we are the obstacle to progress and prioritize taking action over perfection.
Is seeking perfection one of your ways of procrastinating? What is your favorite self-coaching phrase to keep you motivated? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Connect with me on Twitter @thyrone or if you are in the Columbus area @careercolumbus. For more about me you can find me at thyrone.com.
Sometimes consulting or collaborating when appropriate can be good motivators.